The moon sets above trees near Vipiteno, in northern Italian province of South Tyrol, Italy early Sunday morning, Nov. 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, File)
Get the Need2Know newsletter in your inbox every morning! Sign up here!
Here are the headlines you Need2Know for Monday, December 6, 2021:
WAITING FOR OMICRON
Dr. Fauci says the early indications of the severity of the Omicron variant are “a bit encouraging.” Omicron has quickly become the dominant strain circulating in South Africa, but hospitalization rates there are yet to increase at an alarming rate -- suggesting the variant may be much more contagious than Delta but also less dangerous. While Omicron has now been confirmed in about a third of U.S. states, the Delta variant is still far and away the dominant strain circulating in the country and is driving a surge of hospitalizations in the North. AP
IN MEMORIAM: BOB DOLE
Bob Dole, the WWII veteran, longtime senator from Kansas and one-time GOP presidential candidate, has died. Over his long career as a Republican stalwart in Congress, Dole was known as a partisan-turned-skilled legislator who worked across the aisle with Democrats on issues like Social Security reform and the Americans with Disabilities Act. After he lost to Bill Clinton in 1996, Dole became something of a TV pitchman, cutting ads for Pepsi, Visa and, famously, Viagra. He was 98. OBIT
CRUMBLEYS LOCKED UP
The parents of the teenage boy who allegedly shot and killed four classmates at his Michigan high school are in custody. James and Jennifer Crumbley are being charged with involuntary manslaughter for allegedly providing their son with unfettered access to the gun he used in the shooting. They failed to appear for their initial arraignment, leading authorities on a manhunt that ended with their arrests at a warehouse in Detroit. All three Crumbleys -- the mother, father, and son -- are being held in isolation at the same jail, each under suicide watch. CNN
SUU KYI SENTENCED
A court in Myanmar has sentenced Aung San Suu Kyi, the country’s former civilian leader, to four years in prison on charges of inciting public unrest and breaching Covid protocols. The sentence is the first of several expected to be handed down in the coming months against the Nobel laureate, which could keep her locked up for the rest of her life. Suu Kyi was deposed in a military coup in February that led to violence and protests across the country. AL JAZ
BITCOIN CRASH
Bitcoin is currently trading around $48,000, down from $57,000 on Friday morning. The cryptocurrency had an extremely volatile weekend, tumbling 20% to $43,000 before recovering some. The president of El Salvador, who recently adopted Bitcoin as a national currency, said the country bought 150 coins on the dip. The crypto market has been seeing wild swings as investors sell off riskier assets as they watch what the Omicron variant could mean for the markets. COINDESK
TWITTER POST-JACK
Twitter’s new chief executive is in the midst of a major shakeup of the social media company following the departure of Jack Dorsey. Twitter’s heads of design and engineering are out as part of the reshuffling, which CEO Parag Agrawal says is in the name of “operational rigor” and “faster execution.” The reorg comes as the platform has started a new policy on what kinds of images users can and can’t share. Going forward, Twitter will have the right to take down any photo or video taken of someone without their consent -- unless it’s in the public interest to keep it up. WASH POST
CFP SET
No. 1 Alabama will play No. 4 Cincinnati and No. 2. Michigan will play No. 3. Georgia in the College Football Playoff on New Year’s Eve. The winners of those two games will compete in the national championship game on Jan. 10 in Indianapolis. Cincinnati is the first school from a non-Power 5 conference to make the playoff since its inception in 2014. ESPN
CUOMO FIRED
Chris Cuomo will not be coming back to CNN. The network fired their top-rated primetime anchor over the weekend after an internal investigation into his efforts to help his brother, Andrew, uncovered “additional information.” It’s not clear what that additional information is, but Cuomo’s termination came after a separate anonymous allegation of sexual misconduct was made against him by a former colleague at another network. Cuomo has denied that allegation. THE WRAP
SPOTTED...
...Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, and their kids, catching a showing of Licorice Pizza in L.A.: SEE PICS
...the leaked cover of W magazine, featuring Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott, that was scrapped in the aftermath of the Astroworld tragedy: SEE IT
LEFTOVERS: MYSTERY ON THE MOON
China’s lunar rover has spotted a mysterious cube-shaped object on the horizon, and will spend the next couple months trying to get a closer look. The Yutu-2 rover has been exploring the far side of the moon since it landed in 2019, and recently snapped an image of what the Chinese space agency is calling a “mystery hut”: SEE IT
M&T Bank rang the Opening Bell at the New York Stock Exchange Thursday morning as the company celebrated a milestone of opening 100 new multicultural banking centers. David Femi, head of multicultural banking, joined Cheddar to discuss the culturally inclusive expansion as part of the bank's overarching goal to increase financial access in racially and ethnically diverse communities. "By designating branches as multicultural is just one way for us to be intentional in making sure, that number one, when [customers] come into these branches, they see people that look like them, they see people that speak their language," he said.
A second Starbucks location in the U.S. has officially voted to unionize. On Monday, the National Labor Relations Board announced workers at the Starbucks store located in the Buffalo, NY suburb of Cheektowaga voted 15-9 in favor of being represented by Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union. The New York Times reports votes were tallied in December but remained inconclusive as the union challenged the ballots of several employees it said did not work at the store. A Starbucks spokesperson has said that it may appeal the labor board's decision, which comes as several other Starbucks stores across the country are also pushing to form a union. Danka Dragic, shift supervisor for the second Starbucks store in the country to unionize, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Technology-driven sustainable waste management platform, RoadRunner Recycling, recently raised a $70 million Series D round from BeyondNetZero, the climate investing venture of General Atlantic. RoadRunner says it creates and manages end-to-end waste and recycling solutions for businesses of all sizes and that its proprietary technology can boost cost savings and improve recycling rates for companies, which in turn drives sustainability for the waste industry and our world. RoadRunner Recycling founder and CEO Graham Rihn joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Apple TV+ is in serious talks for the rights to stream MLB games next season, the first foray into sports content for the platform, according to the New York Post. Lee Berke, president and CEO of LHB Sports, sat down with Cheddar to discuss how such a deal might impact the tech giant and the sports content industry. "Quite often with new media platforms one of the quickest ways to create and implement a programming strategy — and actually one of the most expensive ways — is to offer up sports content," Berke noted. "So, with this package available, it puts Apple literally in the game and gives them an opportunity to demonstrate their skills in offering up a major league sport."
A.I.-enabled fintech company Qraft Technologies recently closed a $146 million investment from SoftBank Group Corp.
The companies say they are entering a partnership to accelerate artificial intelligence in the asset management industry. Qraft has already developed A.I. solutions that have been used by major financial institutions and says its new approach to asset management maximizes investment efficiency. Qraft Technologies U.S. CEO Robert Nestor joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Peacock has announced a slate of original Olympic games documentaries set to premiere throughout January. The first series, 'Meddling' is now available to stream. The four-part docuseries details the 2002 winter Olympic scandal which alleged that the pairs figure skating competition had been fixed to favor Russia. Tara Lipinski, Olympic gold medalist, champion figure skater, and executive producer of ' Meddling,' joins Cheddar News discuss the series.
A decade ago, long before streaming services, the amount of binge-watching viewers could take part in was slim. Now, streaming services have established binge-watching as a viewing norm. However, how can viewers know when they've crossed the line from innocent entertainment to harmful addiction? Judy Grisel, professor of psychology at Bucknell University, joins Cheddar News to discuss a new study that identifies psychological predictors of problematic binge-watching.
Glassdoor has officially revealed its list of the best places to work in the year 2022. The top 10 on the list include tech companies and just one retail company. Senior economist at Glassdoor, Daniel Zhao, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Students in the Chicago Public School system will head back to class tomorrow at long last. The move comes after four days of canceled classes due to clashes between teachers and the city, including Chicago Mayor Laurie Lightfoot. National Educational Reporter at USA Today, Richard Erin, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Sixteen of the country's most prestigious universities have been hit with a lawsuit claiming those schools illegally conspired to eliminate competitive financial aid offers for students. Just some of the schools mentioned include Yale, Brown, Columbia, UPenn, and Cornell. Author of "Who Gets In and Why" and Professor of practice at Arizona State University, Jeff Selingo, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
